Robot The Bruce
Robot The Bruce was a robot entered by George Francis in the first series of Robot Wars. It weighed enough to be classed as a Super Heavyweight. It won its heat over Wedgehog to reach the Grand Final, before being defeated by the eventual champion Roadblock. Design Robot The Bruce was a four-wheeled, box-shaped robot, with transparent armour and a slight wedge on the top. The robot had no weaponry at all, instead using its brute force to push other robots around the arena. Powered by two 12 volt motors, Robot The Bruce was effective at pushing robots, even managing to push Dead Metal back in the Gauntlet stage. However, the robot had a low top speed of 4 miles per hour, a high ground clearance that made it easy for wedges such as Cruella to get underneath, and no self-righting mechanism, which was its ultimate downfall in the Grand Final. After the First Wars had ended, many of Robot The Bruce's internal components were later used in its successor, Chaos, for Series 2. Etymology The name Robot the Bruce is a pun on the historical Scottish leader, Robert the Bruce, combined with "robot". The Team Robot The Bruce was constructed by its Ipswich-based team captain George Francis of future Team Chaos fame, together with Team Cassius. They had worked together to build Recyclopse, and decided to build a separate robot and enter it separately. Rex Garrod and Simon West built the mechanics, whilst the electronics were handled by George Francis and Mick CutterRobot the Bruce on Rex Garrod's website, with Mick Cutter filling the role of Robot the Bruce's second televised team member alongside George Francis. This teamwork meant that the robot was fully built in just four daysRobot Wars Technical Manual. George Francis and Mick Cutter went under the name of The Village Idiots in Series 1, with George Francis driving the machine. Robot History Series 1 Robot The Bruce debuted in Heat C of the First Wars, and first took part in the Gauntlet, where it needed to pass 4 metres in order to qualify at the expense of Plunderbird 1. Robot the Bruce chose to go down the House Robot route, but found Shunt blocking its way. Robot The Bruce drove around Shunt, and Shunt tried pushing against it with his plough. This however, actually succeeded in helping Robot the Bruce down the course, and Robot the Bruce got away from Shunt, but then drove into Dead Metal. Dead Metal blocked its way, but then span, exposing its side to Robot The Bruce. Robot The Bruce took advantage, pushing against the House Robot. Shunt came in behind Robot The Bruce and axed it, but this did no damage, and as Dead Metal retreated, Robot the Bruce made the end zone. Robot the Bruce had completed the Gauntlet, and finished first on the leaderboard. Robot The Bruce comfortably qualified for the Trial, which was a game of Football. For this event, Robot The Bruce added two side flaps to successfully control the ball. Robot The Bruce was the first to reach the ball as the machined drove forwards, but knocked the ball aside as it did so, and Dreadnaut reversed into Robot The Bruce, blocking it from reaching the ball. Robot The Bruce reversed for another charge, but WYSIWYG drove in front of it, blocking it again. Eventually, Wedgehog tried a shot on goal, but Dead Metal knocked the ball away over Wedgehog, and Robot The Bruce was behind Wedgehog as the ball rolled over, so the ball was knocked across the arena. Wedgehog got to the ball, and knocked it towards the goal, but Robot The Bruce intercepted it. Robot The Bruce pushed the ball into the side fence, and as the ball bounced in front of the goal, Dead Metal carelessly span, leaving an easy target for Robot The Bruce to push the ball in, scoring the first goal. This put Robot the Bruce through to the Arena stage. In the Semi-Final, Robot The Bruce was drawn against Cruella, with George Francis very confident about his chances. The two robots charged at each other, and Cruella got under Robot The Bruce with its wedge. Robot The Bruce reversed off, and tried to push, but drove up the wedge front. After reversing, Robot the Bruce tried to get at Cruella's sides and push, but Cruella started spinning. However, as it slowed, Robot The Bruce drove at the side, but struggled to push its opponent. Cruella reversed into Robot The Bruce, and Robot The Bruce pushed it towards a grille, but Cruella turned away. After a couple of times were Cruella got under Robot The Bruce but could not tip it over, Robot the Bruce reversed into Cruella, pushing it a little, and suddenly, after Cruella turned away from Robot the Bruce, it shot forwards and ran into the side wall, onto one of the grills. With Cruella left completely immobile, Robot the Bruce was through to the Heat Final. Drawn against Wedgehog in the Heat Final, Robot The Bruce weighed 60kg more than its opponent, with George Francis still reasonably confident, albeit less so than in the previous round. As the two robots charged at each other, Wedgehog swerved to get at Robot The Bruce's side. However, it could not get underneath, as Robot The Bruce turned against it. The two span together, then Robot The Bruce reversed. Wedgehog followed, and Robot The Bruce got at its side, and with one long push, rammed it onto a grille. This left Wedgehog immobile and the House Robots attacked Wedgehog. Robot The Bruce took on Matilda, quickly driving away when she attacked with her chainsaw. Robot The Bruce then rammed Wedgehog, and as Sergeant Bash cut into Wedgehog with his saw, Shunt left the beaten competitor and started pushing Robot The Bruce. Cease was called, and Robot The Bruce was through to the Grand Final. In the Grand Final, Robot The Bruce was drawn against five fellow heat winners at once; Bodyhammer, Cunning Plan, Roadblock and T.R.A.C.I.E., as well as Recyclopse, built by Rex Garrod who had collaborated with George Francis and Mick Cutter to build Robot The Bruce. Robot the Bruce initially kept its distance from the other competitors. Eventually, it rammed into the side of Roadblock, pushing it against Bodyhammer. Robot The Bruce reversed for another charge, and Roadblock slipped away, so Robot The Bruce charged into T.R.A.C.I.E. without too great of an effect. T.R.A.C.I.E. turned away, and Robot The Bruce drove up the arena, pushing past Recyclopse. Robot The Bruce stayed away from the others as T.R.A.C.I.E. drove on top of Cunning Plan, immobilising them both, then as Roadblock chased Recyclopse, Robot The Bruce rammed into Recyclopse, allowing Roadblock to get underneath Rex Garrod's machine. Robot The Bruce then charged at Bodyhammer, which tried keeping away from Robot The Bruce, but drove into Recyclopse, which was still being pushed by Roadblock. As Bodyhammer pushed past, Recyclopse was lifted up its side, and then fell onto Robot The Bruce, which was still chasing Bodyhammer. Robot The Bruce reversed, and Recyclopse fell back onto the wedge of Roadblock. Robot The Bruce charged at Roadblock, but missed, then reversed into Bodyhammer. Roadblock continued pushing Recyclopse until its chain fell off, leaving it immobile. Roadblock tried to get under Bodyhammer, but Bodyhammer turned itself off the front, so Roadblock turned its attentions on Robot The Bruce. At this stage, Robot The Bruce charged at Roadblock, but this proved to be a fatal mistake, as it drove up the wedge, and fell off the side, with Roadblock proving able to tip Robot The Bruce onto its side. Immobilised, Robot the Bruce was eliminated, the last to fall before the Judges' decision, won by Roadblock over Bodyhammer. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 2 *Losses: 1 NOTE: Robot The Bruce's successful Gauntlet and Trial runs are not included Series Record Trivia *Robot the Bruce is the only UK heavyweight robot without a weapon to reach a Grand Final, or indeed, win a main series battle. The Dutch heavyweight Tyke (competing in the German championship), and UK featherweight Cunning Plan were the only other weaponless robots to reach a Grand Final. *Robot the Bruce is one of six robots to have come first in both The Gauntlet and The Trial in one heat. The other robots in this category are All Torque, Corporal Punishment, Demolition Demon, Nemesis and Razer, and is the only one of these robots to go on to win the heat. *Robot the Bruce is one of twenty-three robots to have completed The Gauntlet. *Robot the Bruce was the first machine named after a real life individual. *Mid-way through the Grand Final fight, Jonathan Pearce mistakenly referred to Robot the Bruce as "Robert the Bruce". References Category:UK Series competitors Category:UK Grand Finalists Category:Robots from Suffolk Category:Weaponless Robots Category:Robots with more Wins than Losses Category:Robots to complete the Gauntlet Category:Robots with puns for names Category:Robots that came first in both the Gauntlet and Trial Category:Robots to never have a judges' decision Category:Robots named after real people Category:Robots to have been featured in the Ultimate Warrior Category:Robots which debuted in Series 1 Category:Robots which only fought in Series 1 Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Series 2 Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Series 3